When Jeanette Rishell chose Ilana Kaplan-Shain to be her campaign manager this year, you’d imagine she’d bother to take a peek at Kaplan-Shain’s facebook page and make sure what she saw there was consistent with the message she wanted to send to voters. Maybe some photos there of her volunteering in a community service project to benefit disadvantaged kids, or helping inform voters about some issue is what you’d expect to find. What you wouldn’t expect to find is a picture of her in a bar sitting on a stationary mechanical bull doing something unexplainable with her right hand. What no one would ever expect to find are disgusting pictures of a used condom sitting in a toilet. Yet Jeanette Rishell actually hired this person. What does this say about Jeanette Rishell’s values, or her competence?

I’m sure the last time you took a vacation it didn’t quite cross your mind to take pictures like this, much less decide this is how you want to share your thoughts and values with the world. At the very least a picture like this is going to upset the wacko environmentalists who will undoubtedly complain about the failure to dispose of this latex product in an environmentally-friendly manner. The rest of the world is certainly going to wonder who in their right mind takes pictures of used condoms, thinks it’s a good idea to post them on your facebook page, and describes the place where this happened as “awesome”.

Lest readers think this photo is some sort of anomaly however, Ilana Kaplan-Shain decided this picture was also worth sharing, making sure to point out “look at the bottom!!! it’s little sperm.“ This is starting to look a lot like an obsession, much more than happenstance.

So what would prompt someone to behave like this and exhibit such pride in it? Her writings in “Campus Times” give us a little insight, where she opines that “once the haze of last night’s binge leaves or you accept the fact that drunkenly hooking up with another girl in a bathroom stall doesn’t make you a lesbian” and “Sometimes the long-distance relationship is given a new life by drunken instant messages or phone calls, but this beast is easily slain, not with silver bullets or garlic, but with sex acts involving gymnasts who live nearby.”

I really have to wonder what Jeanette Rishell was thinking when she saw all this stuff right before she decided that this is the one person she needed to entrust her campaign to. Perhaps these pretty accurately reflect Jeanette Rishell’s own values and convictions, as otherwise her selection of this individual as her campaign manager above all the others who were available makes no sense. If that’s the case, I can imagine how Rishell would vote on a wide range of issues, and it’s not going to be a decision a lot of voters would be happy with.

The mainstream media will likely not discuss this, which is really unfortunate since the choices a candidate makes during a campaign are awfully relevant to the way they would be expected to vote if they’re elected. If this never makes the papers and Jeanette Rishell never has to publicly explain her decision here, I really hope the voters themselves start asking her questions about this until she honestly explains a consequential decision which so doggedly defies rational explanation. They’ve got a right to an answer here.

The opinions expressed here are solely the views of the author, and not representative of the position of any organization, political party, doughnut shop, knitting guild, or waste recycling facility, but may be correctly attributed to the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy. If anything in the above article has offended you, please click here to receive an immediate apology.

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88 Comments

Wow, words escape me. As a woman, I am offended. As a parent, I’m worried for the next generation if this is the type of garbage is what a supposedly politically minded, civic activist would post on her page. In our society Facebook is one of the most accessible ways to find out what a person is like, what their interests are, what kind of employee they’d be. What I see here is not just digusting, but sad. And it angers me that Ms. Rishell hired someone who so clearly doesn’t respect family values, let alone her own reputation. There is NO WAY I’m voting for someone who can’t even handle an effective hiring process. (Rishell should’ve seen this facebook page, who knows, maybe she did and doesn’t care?) I hope that other women see these posts as being vitally informative about the calibur and quality of the people that Ms. Rishell chooses to hire and keep company with. As a woman, this is just embarrassing. Get it together Rishell.

mnd: Who cares if she’s holding onto the rope???? She posted it on her facebook page and it looks bad irregardless of what she’s actually doing. This is not your average everyday 20 something person we’re talking about (Ms. Kaplan-Shaine). This person represents Ms. Rishell and her entire campaign. She is supposed to be a professional who represents the candidate and platform that the Rishell campaign is putting forward. It is relevant considering how easily Rishell could’ve found all of these photos and the porn controversy information. Evidently Rishell doesn’t care or is too clueless to realize that it matters.

If you find these pictures so disgusting (I do), why on earth would you want to put them in your blog?

The bull riding pic is OK, but you felt you had to hint at something unexplainable - UNEXPLAINABLE! - being done with her left hand. There’s a rein she’s holding on to. What did YOU think the unexplainable action was?

Hey all you righteous, “family-values”, hyper sensitive, crazy people in Manassas - please get a life. There are real issues being debated in this country such as health care reform, putting people back to work, winning two wars and addressing global warming. No wonder you’re party has been banished to the wilderness - you only care about insignificant, trivial, foolish things. Who cares what anyone has on their facebook page? I care what someone is going to work on in Richmond.

Then you should not support Jeanette. Do you want her voting to expand porn to schools under the banner of diversity?

“Global warming” is that a joke? We are in the middle of one of the coolest summers in memory. Besides, there is not hard evidence we have had any impact on the weather. The Earth has warmed and cooled a number of times, all before evil capitalism was here. Talk about a foolish subject. Do you really think we can control the temperature?

Don’t worry your fellow anti-America libs are stepping all over themselves and will be the party that is on the outs in 2010.

Speaking of putting people back to work, exactly what has osama done to put people back to work? What has timmy kaine done? Other then traveling the Country neglecting his job here in Virginia.

You do sully your blog brand with cheap tabloid stories like this.
Jeanette Rishell could have Superwoman working for her and still
lose again in November unless Jackson spends taxpayer money
to visit a hottie “soul mate” in Argentina. Leave young
Ms. Kaplan-Shame to ride her bulls in peace.

I have to view this from the perspective of a parent who is trying to arm my daughter to face this sort of pervesion in the world. The sad thing is this young woman will wake up one day and realize that the liberal life is just a dead-end street. When she hits 40 and asks “why did all the guys think I was good enough to sleep with, but not good enough to marry” maybe she’ll get the picture. When she’s childless because the liberal “have sex without all the strings” beliefs she holds left her alone, maybe then she’ll get it. When she’s running for office, or trying to land that high-level job or appointment, and this stuff pops back up to haunt her, maybe she’ll understand the “live in the moment, forget about the future consequences” mantra was a big lie. Maybe, when she’s a single-mother, because “traditional marriage” was just a cliche’, and she’s fighting hard to protect her daughter from the filth she once advocated for, she’ll understand.

As for Jeanette Rishell, this is just another example of why she needs to be defeated again. Compare her word with her deeds. She says she’s for defending families, yet she’s a leader in a church that sponsors gay proms and she (along with her church) opposed defending traditional families. She claims to be tough on immigration, yet she’s raised money for a radical, marxist pro-illegal alien organization, opposed the implementation of 287G, and the Manassas overcrowding ordinance. She says she is a person of integrity and accountability, yet she lied about her opponent during her last run, and when she was proven to have lied, she blamed her campaign staff. Since Greg was able to find this stuff on Rishell’s campaign manager, I must assume that Jeanette hired her with the full knowlegde of Ilana’s past, and hired her anyway. I must assume that she condones it, and that Ilana’s values are in keeping with her own. It’s OK for a young woman to explore the dark-underbelly of the sexual relm. It’s ok to “hook up in a bathroom stall” with another girl, and it’s OK to be a lesbian.

I only hope that Jeanette Rishell, and Ilana her campaign manager have checked to make sure that the paid canvassers and volunteers they are sending door to door aren’t on the sex offender registry. But hey, perverts are people too, right? There past conduct and actions aren’t an indication of future behavior. Nah…..

A Conservative Parent makes the best points, especially about Ilana. Riding a bull at the bar is one thing, posting a disgusting picture of yourself doing it is another. I would be willing to bet Jeanette never Googled her, even though every employer I know of does it to see what people post about themselves. Ilana shows a complete lack of intelligence and a blatent disregard for her employer by leaving that trash up.

Thanks for pointing me to this lady. It’s been “a long trip between stops” if you are catching what I’m throwing. She seems like a girl who knows how to have a good time, and I am in need of a good time. Maybe I’ll sign up to knock on a few doors, and see if we can “hook-up”, but only if she’s willing. From what I’ve read, chances look good. Thanks for helping a brother out.

Greg, you really are going to a lot of trouble to assassinate the character of person managing a campaign that has no chance of winning. Are you bored or something, or are you just a dick? Oh wait, I know the answer to that. You really ought to think about how you would feel if someone wrote this trash about your daughter and then allowed his commenters to write what desperado just did.

First rule of Facebook… if you have anything interesting on your Facebook, don’t leave it out there for the world to see. Dumb. Having said that, I remember a mean spirited photo that Greg, I, and pretty much anyone with a brain took offense to from the Feder camp a couple of years back. If you don’t like having it done to you, why do it to someone else?

I would prefer to see a discuss of Jackson Miller’s solid record in Richmond than the mudslinging. Stuff like this does a great candidate no favors.

Anonymous @ 2:55-
Don’t call people names. That’s for punks. At least post under your name if you’re going to act like punk. As far as what you and Desperado said, Greg doesn’t delete posts because they attack him or he doesn’t agree with them, like the “Anti” site does. That’s called censorship. If you can’t take the heat, gravitate back to the “Anti” site. Log off and do your chores before your Mom gets home.

Man, is this hitting a sore spot with the libs. I guess they can’t explain why Jeanette Rishell would hire a campaign manager who posts pictures of used condoms on her facebook page and feel they need to drag my children into the discussion. Trying to equate someone attacking four year olds with an adult working as a campaign manager really is about as desperate as one could get.

C’mon libs, where’s the defense of someone who celebrates gay sex, irresponsible personal behavior, and wants hard-core porn in university libraries? Aren’t you even going to try?

There is no excuse for any of that, especially in a political campaign. But I think Jackson is served better by extolling his leadership and work instead of slamming Rishell’s campaign manager. He has done some good things in Richmond. Talk about that.

[Ed note: I do not work for the Miller campaign, nor is this from his campaign. BVBL does it’s own research and commentary.]

I agree that “desperado” shows a lack of class, but disagree with the rest of your points. Rishell is running to be a delegate. This is a well-funded campaign (just check how much money she’s getting from outside the district from actblue) If she’s running to represent the 50th and wants to be taken seriously as a candidate (even after losing by huge margins twice before) one would expect a certain level of professionalism from her campaign staff, and her campaign manager. I googled Ilana Kaplan Shain myself, and it wasn’t hard to find this stuff.Plus I also found out that she is no stranger to politics. She’s been a legislative aide to delegate Ebbin, she’s listed as a lobbiest on vpap.org. She’s been around the political block a few times. You’d think she’d show some discretion and clean this stuff up, for the sake of the candidate who hired her. No one assasinated her character, as you say. She did it to herself. If she ended up in the crosshairs of bvbl, well, maybe she shouldn’t run around with a bullseye taped to her forehead.

You asked Greg how he’d feel if this were his daughter. I won’t answer for Greg, but as a Dad myself, if she were my daughter she would have gone out into the world with some self-respect and some values. She would know that when you do things like this, there are consequences.

A bigger question I think you missed is what does this say about the candidate who’s campaign she is running? It says that she either doesn’t do her homework, lacks attention to detail, and is basically incompetent. If she’s ok with her campaign manager’s antics, then it says she doesn’t really live the pro-family message she’s put out there. Taken in the context of her previous canpaigns, it just further illustrates incompetence, and how she is unfit to be a delegate.

To those who are disgusted by the pictures: I am in wholehearted agreement! But instead of questioning why the photos are on BVBL, why are you not questioning why they are on JEANETTE RISHELL’S CAMPAIGN MANAGER’S FACEBOOK PAGE. Direct your indignation and disgust to the correct party, and that would be the person who hired Kaplan-Shaine, Jeanette Rishell.

This is not only about Kaplan-Shaine’s clear lack of discretion or professionalism. The reason this is relevant is b/c it shows once again how time after time Rishell cannot steer herself clear of making avoidable mistakes. That she cannot accomplish the simple task of adequately vetting the campaign manager she hires shows why she has lost two times.

Even though Miller is a strong candidate with a solid record, situations like this Kaplan-Shaine embarrassment must be acknowledged and light must be shone on it. Rishell has very little chance of winning, I agree, but don’t rest on your laurels and let her campaign get away with touting a family-values platform when it is being led by someone who condones deviant behavior (the porn videos in the school library) and relishes putting disgusting images on her very public Facebook page.

What this shows me is girls who are fed the lib line grow up to be young women who are immature and lack judgement and then grow up to be middle-aged women who still lack judgement.I think Miller has little to fear from these clowns because he has a solid record and continues to do a great job in Richmond.

Those who are making gross comments (desperado, chicko), knock it off. I am a republican and agree with the comments of ITK Manassas and Anon Dad, etc. Rishell’s campaign manager is learning one of life’s hard lessons today, which is that a person is accountable for their behavior 24/7 and the line b/w one’s personal and professional life is completely blurred now b/c of Facebook, twitter, etc. I know she brought this on herself, but she doesn’t deserve the letcherous comments. (desperado, chicko) I wish Greg would take them down.

Rishell can only blame herself. If she knew this facebook page and porn controversy existed before hiring this girl, she should never have hired her. If she didn’t know about the facebook page and porn issue, then shame on her for not knowing. This is the third time she’s run and she hasn’t learned by now that this would be controversial?

Have suggested to Jeanette more than once that she start off
by running for and serving well on the Manassas Park Council-
Jackson Miller served on the Manassas City Council and I know
it made him a better delegate.
Honestly, she seems like an intelligent nice lady, but her campigns,
even as well financed as they are, have often spun out of control.
Her slick mass mailer about Jackson lining his pockets when
serving on the Manassas City Council was a total lie and easily
disproved - it was obvious nobody, including her, spent two
minutes fact checking it. She needs a steady sturdy campaign
manager to stop mistakes and bad PR - not create them.

This really has crossed the line in terms of both relevance and taste. The picture of the bull riding is probably identical to thousands of such bar pictures. You chose to introduce the “unexplainable” element when as people have pointed out, it is clear she is holding on to the bull. In this particular case it is obviously not the young woman whose mind is in the gutter, but yours, and it is really disturbing what you are pretending to see in the photograph. As a father I think you need to take this material down and concentrate on attacking Rishell on substantive grounds. Isn’t that what your community activism is supposed to be about?

Regarding her other pictures, if you were actually interested you would probably be able to find thousands of such overseas photos taken by American youth abroad of all political persuasions. It is pretty clear from the news that no party or ideology has a monopoly on bad behavior or bad taste. I am sure it would be quite simple to find young campaign workers on campaigns you support who have shown equally bad judgment in terms of social networking site material. Do you really want to start a contest regarding this? Do you not have any conscience at all? Is your hatred of Rishell so deep that it justifies subjecting this young woman to this, treating her purely as a means to an end?

OK, ‘anon’, you find other candidates who are hiring as their campaign managers people who put this kind of garbage up on their personal websites. Go for it. You tell me just how many other candidates are hiring staffers who are on record supporting the use of mandatory student activity fees to put hard-core porn in university libraries. Have at it, and get back to us.

Apparently you have no problem at all with Rishell’s judgment in this regard, but a lot of other folks do. Heck, someone with this kind of background wouldn’t ever get through the HR department at any reasonably competent business. But you think it’s just dandy that Rishell hires this person.

I can’t imagine living in such a twisted world as the one you seem to live in.

I’ve worked on the staff of some Congressional campaigns, and I can’t imagine how someone with this sort of stuff on their personal websites would ever get close to a campaign. We had a very thorough vetting process for all our staff, and any hint of controversy that could distract from the message of the campaign was instantly flagged. Had I run across anything like this facebook page when doing the vetting on the campaigns I would have worked on, someone like this wouldn’t have been qualified to bring doughnuts to the office.

It’s pretty clear to me this candidate doesn’t do any kind of checking on her staff whatsoever, as I can’t imagine anyone wanting to accept the risk this individual poses to a campaign. That utter lack of performing any level at all of due diligence tells me this person is completely unqualified to hold office. If they’re not going to even do a basic check of the history of their campaign manager, they’re certainly not going to spend a lot of time checking the data supporting a legislative position, whether legislation is consistent with applicable law, or even what the true facts are that may be under dispute in a policy disagreement.

I guess some people’s lives do little more than serve as an example to others of what not to do. Rishell seems to be an expert in that, if nothing else.

I don’t think it is “dandy” Rishell hired her. You seem to really enjoy putting words into others’ mouths. I would agree that the candidate was nuts not to check out her hire, and that the young woman, like her employer, showed a lack of judgment. These things are an epidemic these days.

However I am questioning your judgment and decency because you made something up about a photograph that was obviously false and prurient and that shows where YOUR mind is, not hers, because you are using this young woman as a means to an end, and because other of your charges are tenuous and irrelevant to the serious political issues at hand. As a staunch Republican, I assume you don’t need to be reminded of the behavior of various of your party’s politicians, never mind their staff members. Members of the GOP have no shown no greater judgment than members of the opposing party.

The point is you made something up about a photo. It was disgusting and as the father of daughters you should remove it, forget about this young woman, and attack Ms. Rishell on the issues in a way that does not tarnish the campaign of Mr. Miller.

What a joke Anon is. When the heck is a critical decision by a candidate not relevant to their candidacy? Are we supposed to turn a blind eye if she hires an actor in the sex film industry as her campaign manager? Or how about a sex offender? Man, liberals cannot argue a point at all without resorting to attacks of the messenger.

Chuck, as anyone who has read your many posts under all those names knows, you would be the best judge of a “class act” in these kinds of matters. After all you have always revealed yourself as someone who has treated women with the utmost respect, avoided vulgarity when discussing them, and shown time and again that your real middle name is not Aaron but “class act.”

That said, all the photo shows is someone sitting on a mechanical bull. Her hand appears to be bracing herself. It is a photo taken thousands of times in thousands of bars, moving or not. But naturally you and the Website owner see something else. That is what is revealing, not the photo.

Deane, I guess you cannot read. Pity. Is it the local schools? If you could read, you would see that the lack of judgment on Rishell’s part was deplored. If you could read, you would see that the issue is the disgusting thing that is being implied about a photo that suggests no such thing. In terms of vulgarity, that is coming from the post’s use of “unexplainable,” not the photo.

Finally if you could read, you could tell us when Rishell or any other candidate does hire a sex offender or pornographic actor. Since nobody has said one should turn a blind eye to that, I am at a loss to imagine why you bring it up.

Come ON, people. I personally know Ms. Kaplan-Shain. The stills/posts that you took from her Facebook and her newspaper article were from FIVE YEARS AGO, and the ones from E. Europe were obviously intended just for friends. Since then, Ilana has gone on to complete graduate school and establish herself as a hardworking, intelligent person with the skills and cunning necessary to function in the highly competitive DC/NOVA job market.

Think about when you were a college student. I understand how easy it is to dismiss a person based on her pro-sex and porn platform. However, how many of the men who view this site haven’t watched porn? How many women have wished they had a condom, and could control their encounter with more stength and surety then their male partners? I’m guessing that there are many of you who have felt this. Ilana’s work around the University made people much safer and made many more women feel safe, secure, and in control.

Finally (and i am a Virginia resident, so this matters to me): WHO CARES who Ms. Rishell’s Campaign Manager is? Nobody blinked an eye at Karl Rove, who has years of draft dodging and an easily-attackible public record. Ilana Kaplan-Shain is smart, and her five-year-old “indiscretions’ should be easily dismissed. If you really care about who’s representing you, look at Ms. Rishell’s record, not Ms. Kaplan-Shain’s.

Oh, THAT explains why those photos are still prominently displayed on her facebook site, and why Jeanette Rishell didn’t have a problem hiring a campaign manager who was doing all this. Thanks for clearing that all up. Not.

Let the professor have his 15 minutes and play the victim. The next time a police officer of another race or gender stops you, follow him/her back to their car after you deal with the issue at hand and loudly accuse them of racism/sexism, discrimination and otherwise attempt to humiliate and embarrass them. The good professor will now lead the charge against racism, just like Marion Barry has led the fight against drug abuse. All this guy is doing is denigrating himself and other blacks. Let’s hope that nobody breaks into his house for real. It might take the local police a while to respond.

You know what, who cares what a candidates campaign manager does or doesn’t do in their free time? It’s the candidate I’m voting for, not their campaign manager. Now, if the candidate posted this stuff on their webpage, they would definitely not get my vote, you can count on that.

This was obviously just a case of not doing proper vetting. A lot of employers do check for facebook pages of people they are interviewing. These days, it deifnitely isn’t smart to put up stuff like that on their facebook page. But, young people do it all the time, and they’ll eventually learn it’s not smart to do. I bet this girl has learned that now, and probably her Facebook page will be heavily revised or removed.

Still, this whole thing is a bit silly, in my own opinion. Must be a slow news day!

There are forces at work intending to use the schools to promote the homosexual lifestyle, population reduction (no children) and promiscuity. The UK now has a female infertility rate of over 10% as a result of SIDs. We better defend our gene pool.

Also on the agenda, our second amendment rights, the cap and trade bill, amnesty, health care, hate speech, legislation from the bench. We have a lot of work to do.

One day down the road she will wake up alone, bitter and empty if she continues on like this. Even Desperado and Chicko won’t want to hook up with her then. At that point, she’ll be living in her rundown apartment with her 26 cats and pouring bourbon on her cereal.

“There are forces at work intending to use the schools to promote the homosexual lifestyle, …”

This is idiotic. Are the schools intending to teach kids that gay people exist? Is that what you object to? Or the next radical step of teaching that people shouldn’t be attacked without reason.

I know that homophobia is a very strong impulse but maybe teaching kids young that 10% or so of people are gay will prevent future generations from your irrational prejudice.

10% of people, animals, insects - yes insects - are gay. There’s some variation in percentage between species but it’s pretty obvious that God made roughly 10% of creation gay. It’s not learned (generally) and it’s not hereditary (in any direct way).

And as far as I’m concerned, that should be taught. It would be nice for future generations to obtain a higher rate of convergence between how they think and the nature of reality than you can apparently obtain.

Oh, that last line was FUNNY! Democrats and their moonbats tried to make an issue out of Rove for the better part of a DECADE. Megan does so even in her fatuous post. Some of them are STILL trotting out the asinine suggestion that he should be prosecuted, apparently for “outing” a covert operative (an allegation proven to be false in both its premises and its synthesis). Doug Mataconis over at Below the Beltway is attacking the GOP for apparently not being stern enough with those he labels the “birthers.”

The far Left has set the “standard.” But when their “standard” they utilize against Conservatives is turned on them (think: questions to the Great Prevaricator about his sexual activities in the Paula Jones case, made relevant by a law HE signed), they squeal like stuck pigs.

It was no mistake that the staged, scripted question regarding Gates disorderly conduct arrest (NOT the false narrative used by Obama that Gates was arrested for breaking into his own home) came up at the tail end of the Obamacare news conference.

In Obama’s mind Gates should have received a big ol’ fist bump and “carry on brotha” and anyone who doesn’t give Obama the same on his Health care plan - anyone who dares question him is acting stupidly.

Gates flips out and starts verbally abusing the cops for doing their job.

Obama flips out the race card to distract from his failing presidency.

There are a lot of liberals lurking on this board, I would like to talk to them for a moment.

Why don’t you join us?

It’s much better over here.

You will get more of your social justice and a better future than where you are at now.

We know what the media, the schools, the movies, the politicians have told you. Your ancestors were not evil. Gun owners are not crazy. We are not racists. Conservatives are not weak minded people. We love our American Heritage, our veterans who died for our freedoms. We love liberty, decent families, communities that know and respect each other, our God. We are not perfect, but we work toward perfection and you might give constructive criticism to us about things we don’t see.

She is single, independent, and likes to have a good time. Again, those quotes/pictures are from COLLEGE. George W was snorting coke and blacking out during his time in college but you are all fine with that.

People grow up, and Ilana has too. Everybody experiments and makes stupid mistakes in college.

If people supposedly grow up, why are they still pimping disgusting stuff like this while applying for political jobs? Much, much more importantly, why are candidates for office hiring people to represent their campaigns who have garbage like this on their websites?

When Jeanette Rishell effectively endorses people putting pictures of used condoms in toilets on their websites, you really have to wonder if she has any business at all being in politics.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a Democrat. But, be that as it may, I have no hatred for Republicans. In fact I was raised by two very wonderful Republicans and am a sister to a wonderful Young Republican as well. You can imagine the teasing I get for being the “Black Sheep” of the family.

Now that that’s out of the way, I do have some comments.

1) I feel terribly sorry for Ms. Kaplan-Shain, I’m sure she’s feeling incredibly attacked and is dismayed by the level of mean-spirited and rude comments made on this site. Imagine, for a just a moment, how’d you feel if someone insinuated you were masturbating in public (I believe that was the point of posting the bull riding photo).

2) This is a campaign. The candidates will undoubtedly debate the issues and on election day one will be the victor. What purpose is served in calling a staffer a slut, or immoral, or a disgrace? The staffer is not running for office, she’s working for a candidate she believes in, and really is that any different than any one of us who canvasses for a candidate or gives money or makes phone calls? Would you enjoy a snapshot of you being posted, with no context, and used to tear down your character?

3) I’m just going to say this, and you can do with it what you may. I’m sure many of you will vehemently disagree with me, but that’s a risk you take when sharing your opinion.

If Ms. Kaplan-Shain were a man, would he be receiving the same treatment? Perhaps on some points, the student council vote maybe (which by the way I feel is completely irrelevant). But if a man was sitting on top of a mechanical bull, hold the handle (as she clearly is) would you not so vaguely hint that he was masturbating? Would you leave comments that you’d like to meet this man, take him out, that he was your kind of guy, that you’re sure you’d have a good time with this fellow? It’s tough enough being a woman and trying to make it in politics, do we also need to insinuate that she is promiscuous?

4) We all have differences of opinion. There are some who believe pornography is not protected under the first amendment and there are those who believe that it is, despite their own opinions on the subject matter. There are those who believe burning a flag is the greatest sin a citizen can commit against their nation and there are those who believe, no matter how vial the act is, it is protected as a fundamental freedom. We disagree on guns, gays, and God. There are those who will scream till they’re blue in the face that abortion is murder and standing across from them is someone who would scream the opposite.

This is good. We should disagree. It makes us better citizens to challenge each other. We should demand our elected officials stand-up for their beliefs, and more importantly the beliefs of their constituency. But we should also remember that everyone has a parent, a partner, a sibling, or a child that loves them and that by taking cheap shots at their character for our own amusement we really only cheapen the whole debate.

I too am a Democrat. Your comments are very well stated. However, you (as are many others) are missing the main point. This is not about Ms. Kaplan-Shain. It’s about candidate Rishell and her inability to manage and/or lead.

I have met her (Jeanette) on many occasions and find her to be a perfectly nice person. -But—- she is obviously a very poor selection for us as a candidate. Jeanette has had far to many mistakes in her short political career to continue allowing something like this to fly under her radar. I dont think Jeanette is capable of being an effective representative in Richmond.

Some protest that attention should be devoted to the candidate and the issues, NOT toward some poor little girl staffer who made some bad decisions a few years ago. The fact of the matter is that this is very, very much, and in fact, entirely about the candidate, Jeanette Rishell.

It’s clearly indicative of her interviewing/investigative skills in hiring this girl. Did she not investigate the girl far enough to reveal her background? Even though she may have thoroughly investigated the girl’s background, and considered it to be of no consequence, she surely would realize that despite HER feelings, a large portion of the voting public would disagree with her and be dismayed.

Regardless of whether she knew of the girl’s background or not, there’s clearly “something wrong in Denmark” with respect to the candidate for the HOD.

I agree with you that Governor Palin was treated unfairly during the 2008 campaign. I still disagree with her on many issues, but attacking her wardrobe, appearance and her family was seriously uncalled for. I especially regarded the attack of her children as particularly offensive.

Fed Up,

Not sure if you’re calling me a loony or not. It’s difficult to tell infliction in writing, however if that is the case I’d respectfully reply that I did not write to insult anyone and only commented in the interest of providing a divergent opinion. I’d ask that you extend the same courtesy. And I tend to think I have a pretty good grip on reality, but thanks for inquiring.

So I’m clear: All I’m asking is that you think of the person you are demonizing. Do I think it was wise to post photographs that could be in anyway construed as something nefarious? Certainly not. However, I also don’t believe someone’s personal facebook page should be used as campaign fodder. Poor decision sure, legitimate proof of moral depravity, I don’t think so.

As for whether or not it Ms. Rishell lacks judgment for hiring Ms. Kaplan-Shain … I have to respectfully disagree that facebook photos are measures of competency. You ask questions on fundraising and field experience, not have you every ridden a mechanical bull. I understand Ms. Kaplan-Shain has removed the offensive photographs, something that should probably have been done sooner. Had they never been public I very much doubt we’d be having this conversation.

If you’d like to question Ms. Rishell’s judgment do so on the merits. Say you disagree with her transportation plan or on health care. Say you think she’s too liberal or you don’t like her stance on taxes. These are legitimate issues to be debated. Calling her manager a slut is out of line.

Laughable. If Rishell is incapable of selecting staff that don’t have scandalous pasts, how are we to trust her when she is recommending appointments to the various commissions that Virginia has? Her own actions demonstrate she would have appointed this person to a commission overseeing higher education in Virginia either because she’s too lazy to check what someone has done, or she has and thinks someone who shows pictures of used condoms and thinks free porn in the university library is a good thing.

Rishell’s judgment is just plain horrible, but we knew that by the campaigns she has run in the past. It completely disqualifies her from holding elected office anywhere.

BothPartiesColludeAgainstUsAndMarketToOurFears said on 23 Jul 2009 at 9:00 am:

“10% of people, animals, insects - yes insects - are gay. There’s some variation in percentage between species but it’s pretty obvious that God made roughly 10% of creation gay. It’s not learned (generally) and it’s not hereditary (in any direct way).”

There you have it folks. You can spray the couch because the cat does it.

Greg, how did you get the pictures? Her pictures obviously document an Eastern European trip. I can actually understand her pictures as documenting culture during a trip. Finding a Condom in one’s hotel room certainly makes a statement about the culture and the poster is… well… just an interesting poster. The bull riding picture is just that… a bull riding picture. It’s a matter of context. You provided a bit of context that may or may not be correct. I can also understand that she probably kept them on her private Facebook profile.

So, how did you get these obviously private and perhaps innocent in the proper context pictures? Did you attempt to fact check with Ms. Kaplan-Shain before publishing them? It’s not too late to do that, by the way.

I don’t know Ms. Kaplan-Shain or Ms. Rishell. Since you’re a blog I follow, I’m just taking a pulse on the level of journalistic integrity you apply to what you report. Occasionally, I find what appears to be really good coverage of local issues here; however, articles like this make me question BVBL as a reliable source.

The main stream media obviously passed on this because… well.. it’s not really “news”.

Thanks JY. That’s all I was wondering. When I went on Facebook, I couldn’t find her. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that people leave all of this information for public consumption, but it really is a stupid thing to do - for many reasons. Humiliation is just one of them.

Just Saying, see my post at 9:19AM. I believe that answers your request…

Greg, I did a Google search and found no news articles about the final disposition of Escobar’s case. The WP link is one of the ones that came up on the Google search, and it doesn’t seem to have that information either.

I’m also curious, while I’m on the subject, about the current status of Luis Guzman, as referenced in this article:

I figured out PACER and Luis Kennedy Guzman got 5 years for 1 count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and 6 counts of possession of an unregistered firearm. After the 5-year term is up he gets 3 years of supervised release.

I don’t know. I think vetting people is an important process, and Ms. Rishell’s judgment is most certainty called into question on this one. Also, it looks like the Facebook page has been disabled, which I take as a positive admission that the postings on the account were not appropriate. Had BVBL not had the presence of mind to capture the images, the story may have been covered up. Because of the work of BVBL, the public has a right to know the associations Ms. Rishell values and is able to see the ugly truth.

Just as a jury must sometimes be forced to view images most would find distasteful, still a verdict must be rendered. And is a vote any less important?

Thanks Greg, for doing the responsible thing and documenting the lapses in judgment while voters still have a chance to do the right thing.

She looks to be a fun girl to go out and party with, but not the kind I would want to take home to Mama. Or run my campaign.

Since the words “serious” and “candidate” are mutually exclusive when it comes to candidates like Jeanette Rishell, I have to ask why publishing this stuff was even remotely necessary. What did this woman do to deserve this treatment, and the snarky follow-up comments? My tax dollars don’t pay her salary, do they? I monitor my kid’s Facebook, and a lot of what other kids put out there would shock you way more than what this young woman has posted.

Whoever said antibvbl allowed open discourse? Indeed, unless you agree with them, you are not allowed to be part of the discussion. One of their posters had the nerve to say that Jackson Miller must have a dirty mind because these images were posted here on bvbl. They made some strange link between the posting of the images and Jackson Miller, as if he had control over whether these images should be posted. It’s the girl’s fault she put them on her facebook page, and now antibvbl is trying to say Jackson Miller has a perverted mind. Their favorite liberal attack dog ShellyB said that.

I wonder why the same rule does not apply to Audra Shay of the Young Republicans. She was raked over the coals as scum of the earth because she said “lol” to a rant someone posted on her Facebook. The person posted 2 posts, and she responded, but my assumption is she responded lol to the first before she read the second, which contained a racial word. Yet they give this party girl a pass.

She reminds me of a friend of mine. Lot’s of fun to party with, but not the kind you hire for a serious gig.